Losses at Npower have increased in the first six months of the year as customers continue to depart the Big Six supplier, according to the latest set of financial figures.
The half-year results from its parent company Innogy SE show its UK retail arm lost €81 million in adjusted earnings before interest and tax, compared to a loss of €18 million for the first half of 2018.
The results state that the “main negative impact” on its earnings was from the energy price cap and lower customer numbers.
According to the document, Npower lost around 135,000 electricity customers in the first six months of the year, from 2.43 million in December 2018 to 2.3 million at the end of June.
It also states the “churn rate” for electricity customers in Britain “reached a new peak” in the first half of this year.
Revenue also fell from €3.6 billion at the end of June 2018 to €3.5 billion at the end of June this year.
Npower was given the green light to merge with SSE’s retail arm SSE Energy Services but the two companies called off the deal late last year due to “adverse developments” in the retail market and “regulatory interventions” such as the price cap.
In January, the company announced around 900 jobs were due to be cut because of the “extremely tough UK retail energy market conditions”.
Today (12 August) it was revealed that SSE is now in talks with challenger brand Ovo Energy over the possible sale of its retail arm.
“Customer numbers in the Netherlands, Belgium and Eastern Europe remained stable,” said Innogy SE’s chief executive officer, Uwe Tigges.
“In the company’s UK retail business, however, the persistently difficult market environment resulted in a further decline in customer numbers.”
Innogy’s chief financial officer, Bernhard Gunther said the group’s overall business performance was “robust” for the first six months of the year.
“Competitive pressure remains high in the retail business,” said Gunther.
“Higher wholesale prices for electricity and gas, the introduction of standard variable tariff price caps in the UK and regulatory intervention in Eastern Europe also had a negative impact on the result.”